Dunfermline

Deflating defeat

It was a bad Ayr day on Saturday as the Pars’ complacency, after our Hearts performance, shattered our hopes. “We were rubbish,” captain Lee Ashcroft confirmed, apologising to the travelling support.

It has brought into sharp focus a debate which has raged all summer. Is our squad really stronger than last season? It has been cruelly answered. The Ayr manager and five players are former Pars. While accepting that four star players were enticed away, unavoidably, by financial inducements, there remains bewilderment that Nat Wedderburn, Jean Yvesm’voto and Joe Cardle were discarded.

Talisman Joe was inexplicably replaced by a released player from England’s sixth tier!